Grain-loading arrangement for railway cars



April 14, 1931.

J. L. MOHUN GRAIN LOADING ARRANGEMENT FOR RAILWAY CARS Filed Feb. 27, 1929 Invenzor: JbimLJI iahz/n Patented Apr. 14, 1931 JOHN L. MOI-IUN, or OMAHA, NEBRASKA I GRAIN-LOADING ARRANGEMENT I EOR RAILWAY CARS Application filed February 27-, 1929. Serial No. 342,985.

This invention relates to railway freight train equipment, and particularly that class of equipment which is used to transport grains and similar lading, and has for its object to provide an aperture in the roof-of such a car to accommodate the grainloading chute, which aperture is automatically closed when the chute is removed. In an ordinary car when the present spouts from the grain 0 elevators are introduced through the side doors, in some cars, the car cannot be filled to its capacity on account of the space occupied by the chutes above the grain and the underside of the roof. I

An object of this invention is to provide such an aperture with a door which auto matically closes and which can be unlocked only from the inside of the car and to provide a lock therefor which cannot be jolted by the service movements of the car into opened or unlocked position.

Another object of the invention is to provide such an opening which is large enough to accommodate the standard chutes now in service but to also provide means to prevent the entrance of a thief through such opening.

In the drawings: Fig. 1 shows. a plan View of a typical application of my invention.

Fig. 2 is a section on line 2+2 of Fig. 1-. Fig. 3 is a sectionon line 33 of 1. Fig. 4 shows the relation of the apertures to the general plan of the car.

Fig. 5 is. a detail showing the locking mechanism. I

My invention comprises a preferably circular frame around the aperture which is provided with a horizontal flange 2 for attachment to the roof or roof sheet of the car,

which sheet is preferably flanged outwardly (3) adjacent the perimeter of the aperture for weather-proofing and the upstanding wall 4 of the frame is rabbeted to accommodate this flange so as to provide a smooth interior surface for the aperture. Tar paper or other weather-proofing means may be inserted be-. tween the flange'and the roof sheet. frame is also preferably provided with an outwardly projecting horizontal flange 5 for weather-proofing. The door is provided The with a downwardly projecting flange 6 at its perimeter for weather-proofing. This door is hinged to the frame and the frame is provided with lugs 7 which restrict the opening movement of the door so that the door 5 i cannot be opened to such a position that when released it will not automatically. close; in other words, the door may be open far enough to permit the entrance of the chute but as soon as the chute is removed the door auto yo mat-ically' falls to closed position. i r A latch 10 is provided on the inside of the door which has an inclined surface 11 so that .when'the door is closing the latch is moved backwardly so that its tongue 12 automatically' falls into the groove 13 in the frame. The lock to the latch comprises a gravity weight 14 slidably engaging grooves in the retainers 15. To open the door the weight is held in the position shown in Fig. 0 5 but as the latch swings into locked position the wei ht movesby gravity to the bottom of the Stet, behind the latch, and retains the latch in locked position against jars caused by impacts of the cars in service.

The aperture is partially closed by the bars 16 which projectacross it to prevent the entrance of a thief into the car. These bars are provided with a rounding top surface to prevent grain or other material from resting thereon, which material might later be arred ofi of the bars on to some perishable lading.

Fig. shows a small plan of the top of a freight car and shows the preferred position of the loading apertureswherein one aperture is positioned on one side of the car adjacent the end and the other aperture is positioned on the other side of the car adjacent the opposite end. Other apertures may be used if desired.

In the arrangement shown the hinges 18 of the doors are positioned toward the ends of the car so that the chute may be moved from one aperture to the other without interfering with the door. v

The accompanying drawings illustrate the preferred form of the invention, thoughit is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the exact details of construction shown and described, as it is obvious that various modifications thereof within the scope of the claims will occur to persons skilled in the art.

I claim: 7

1. In a railway car, means to accommodate a grain loading chute comprising an opening in the roof 01"" the car provided with a surrounding frame having a self-closing door and an automatic latch mounted thereon.

2. In a railway car, means to accommodate a grain loading chute comprising an opening in the roof of the car provided with a surrounding frame having an automatically closing door mounted thereon which is provided with an automatic lock which can be unlocked-onlyfrom the inside of the car.

3. In a railway caigmeansto accommodate a grain loadingclnitecomprising an opening in the root-of the car provided with a surrounding frame having an automatically,

closing door mounted thereon, and bars eX tending crosswise'of the opening;

4:. In a railway -car, means to accommodate a grain loading chute-comprising an opening in the roof of the car provided with a surrounding frame having an automatically closing door mounted thereon, and bars eX- tending crosswise of the opening provided with rounding top surfaces to prevent grain or other material from resting thereon;

JOHN L. MOHUN. 

